La Croix-Rouge: "The solution? Secure access"

Mobile communications are vital for a non-profit organisation like Croix-Rouge. Some 70 ambulances are equipped with a tablet. What’s more, staff members are increasingly carrying a smartphone. Croix-Rouge manages all these devices and applications with the help of Orange.

The challenge

Mobile device management

Offering mobile solutions to fit individual users? This is the approach of Croix-Rouge. There are a number of different user profiles: how mobile is each member of staff in their job? This question aims to determine how vital a mobile device is for each person. “We often order mobile devices via Orange,” explains Eric Van Habost, ICT director at Croix-Rouge de Belgique. "The standard mobile phone is what we usually use, but I have noticed there is increasing interest in smartphones among my colleagues,” says Van Habost.

However, the mobile communications challenge goes much further. The Bring Your Own Device strategy has also become popular within Croix-Rouge. The organisation allows all devices. It also has 7 inch tablets designed for specific use. Some 60 to 70 Croix-Rouge ambulances dedicated to non-urgent transfers are equipped with these devices. The tablets provide such functions as allowing ambulance crews to get more information on patients while they are in transit. All these mobile devices and applications need to be properly managed.
 

We want to be able to manage mobile devices remotely.

Eric Van Habost

The solution

Secure access to applications and data

To manage its growing number of mobile devices, whether personal devices or those aboard ambulances, Croix-Rouge uses the Mobile Device Management solution provided by Orange in partnership with Mobco. It manages not only the mobile devices but also the applications and data contained within them.

Croix-Rouge has chosen the Mobile Iron app, as used in-house. This allows workers to access their documents securely via smartphone or tablet. "Thanks to the Mobile Iron solution, the ambulances are also connected to our Maestro application in real time," explains Eric Van Habost. This means that they can track journeys and display patient information from the ambulance, using an Orange connection.

The results

An optimal administration and management system

The tablet and mobile phone management system enables workers to use their (own) devices responsibly and securely. A Mobile Device Management application is vital to this process.

This gives staff secure, well-designed and effective mobile communications. This is something which Croix-Rouge intends to pursue in the future. “In the future we will be using this solution to manage our mobile devices remotely," adds Eric Van Habost. “This management system is already being deployed on all the devices on both our fixed-line and wireless networks. But soon it will be rolled out everywhere," he concludes.